Who’s The Climate-Change Bad Guy?

There is a new storyline emerging ahead of this week’s talks on climate change. China has somehow emerged as the good guy, and the U.S., less than a year after the election of Barack Obama, is again the villain.

Yes, China just became the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. No, China will not countenance any limits on its emissions—at the December Copenhagen summit or for decades to come. Yes, China demands that rich countries pay for its efforts to clean up. No, China will not abide rich countries trying to level the environmental playing field by using “carbon tariffs.” Yes, China intends to rely primarily on coal to power its fast-growing economy. No, China doesn’t have any illusions about “clean coal.”